Grilled Pork Roast

Cooking the pork in this manner turns your grill into a big oven. Be sure to sear the pork at the end of the cooking process so you get a nice browned outside. Serve with Oven Fries and a salad for a great balanced meal. Leftovers are great for making Cuban Sandwiches.

Grilled Pork Roast
Grilled Pork Roast

10 servings
253 calories per serving

3 pound pork top loin roast or pork loin
2 T parsley, chopped
1 t fennel seeds, crushed
1 t minced dry onion
½ t rosemary, crushed
¼ t salt
¼ t ground cloves
¼ t pepper
¼ t garlic powder
¼ t onion powder
1/8 t ground coriander

Trim fat from roast. Mix all spices together to create a rub and sprinkle it evenly over the meat and rub it in. Heat grill – lower heat to medium low – shut off one side of the grill so that you can grill with indirect heat. Place meat on a rack in a baking pan and place on the side of grill that is NOT on. Cook 1 ½ hours. Sear the meat on the side of the grill that is on for just a few moments, then remove from grill and let sit 15 minutes before slicing.

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Ginger Pops

What a crisp and refreshing pop ! And when you are done, your mouth tastes like you just ate a bunch of ginger snap cookies. These are definitely on my list of recipes to make again 🙂

Ginger Pops
Ginger Pops

4 servings
52 calories per serving

½ c lemon lime seltzer
1/2 inch ginger
Juice of one lime
Juice of one lemon
3 T honey
1 cup ice

Place all in a blender and mix well. Spoon into popsicle molds and freeze at least 4 hours.

Chicken Salad with Artichokes

Lunch salads don’t have to be the same boring thing day in and day out. This one has marinated grilled chicken and artichokes giving it a great Italian flavor.

Chicken Salad with Artichokes
Chicken Salad with Artichokes

2 servings
390 calories per serving

½ c lite Italian dressing
½ lb. boneless skinless chicken breast halves
2 c torn arugula
2 c torn romaine leaves or other greens
14 oz. can quartered artichoke hearts
2 plum tomatoes, cut into wedges
½ c low fat shredded cheddar cheese
4 fresh basil leaves cut into strips

Pour ¼ c dressing over chicken and refrigerate ½ hour. Heat grill and cook chicken 6-8 minutes each side or until done then cut into strips. Combine arugula and lettuce and top with artichokes, chicken, tomatoes, cheese, basil and the rest of the dressing.

Strawberry Dream

This is like a pudding pop with strawberries – very rich, very creamy and very delicious !

Strawberry Dream
Strawberry Dream

18 servings
254 calories per serving

8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 c skim milk
1.5 oz. package sugar free vanilla instant pudding
1-1/2 c thawed cool whip
20 Nilla Wafers, coarsely broken
1 c sliced fresh strawberries (save some for tops of desserts)
1/2 c strawberry ice cream topping (or strawberry jam)

Beat cream cheese until creamy and gradually beat in milk. Add pudding and beat 2 minutes (it will be quite thick) then stir in cool whip and berries. Swirl in topping. Divide cookies among 18 cupcake liners (I use silicone ones) then spoon in the strawberry mix, garnish the tops with extra berries and freeze 4 hours. Let sit out 10 minutes before eating.

Cat Cora’s Truffled Halibut (Masterchef)

Last night I was watching Masterchef and the most awesome looking recipe was cooked ! It was Cat Cora’s Truffled Halibut, which in recipe books by Cat Cora is also referred to as Pan Seared Halibut with Sweet Corn Zabaglione.

Today I am going to make an exception and list a recipe here that comes in higher than 400 calories – this one just looks too exquisite to miss. And it’s just a few calories over 400 – barely enough to count 😉 With all original ingredients this one comes in at around 850 calories per serving. But by using fat free half and half instead of heavy cream and frying the zabaglione onions in Pam and some water instead of oil , you can come in at about 449 calories – not bad at all for a gourmet dish.

As soon as I make this, I will post pictures – for now, I just wanted to get the recipe up for you.

4 servings
449 calories per serving

Sweet Corn Zabaglione (cream sauce)
Pam
1-3 T water (instead of oil)
1/2 c fresh yellow corn kernels (about 1 ear)
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 c fat free half and half (instead of heavy cream)
1 egg yolk
Kosher salt to taste

Halibut
2 T olive oil
4 6 ounce halibut fillets
Kosher salt to taste
Fresh ground pepper to taste
2 c arugula, stems removed
1 c cherry tomatoes, halved
1/2 c thinly sliced red onion
1/4 c fresh yellow corn kernels (about 1/2 an ear)
1/2 c fava beans

Prepare the cream sauce – Heat a skillet and spray with Pam and cook corn and garlic 4 minutes. Add the half and half and simmer on very low heat 10 minutes. Because the half and half has no fat, you have to be careful to not let this come to a boil.

Transfer all to a blender and puree until smooth and then strain through a fine mesh sieve. Bring 1 inch of water to boil in a double boiler and pour the corn puree into a bowl and whisk in the egg yolk then place in the top pan of the double boiler and whisk until thickened, about 10 minutes. Season with salt.

If you do not want to go out and buy a double boiler, you can carefully fit together 2 sauce pans and accomplish the same thing – the main purpose of a double boiler is to make sure the pan with the food in it does not come in direct contact with the heat – it is like cooking with indirect heat. It is much gentler for sauces and other preparations. So just fill the bottom pan with a bit of water, rest a smaller pan on top making sure it does not touch down to to the other pan. It takes some coordination, but it can be done 😉

For the fish – Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Season the fish with salt and pepper. Heat 1 T oil to very hot and them saute fish 2 minutes per side being sure to get a nice golden sear on each side. Transfer to oven and bake 5-6 minutes to cook all the way through.

Bring 2 c of water to a boil and boil the shelled fava beans for just a minute or 2 to soften them some.

Toss together arugula, beans, tomatoes, onion and corn and mix with 1 T oil, salt and pepper.

Divide the cream sauce on dishes, plate the fish atop it and add the salad bits to the top.

Winding down to Labor Day

I figured you might be getting together your plans for Labor Day and looking for some great summer recipes – over the next week I’ll be re-posting some of my favorites from the past couple of months. These are great dishes for BBQ’s and picnics. If you are looking for more ideas, be sure to click the SUMMER category in the list over on the right side of the page !

Chicken Posole Soup

I think this is the Mexican version of leftover soup – a bit of salsa, a bit of hominy, a bit of chicken, a bit of cilantro – – and all seasoned with cumin, that wonderful spice that makes it taste so rich.

Chicken Posole Soup
Chicken Posole Soup

4 servings
194 calories per serving

4 c fat free chicken broth
15.5 oz. can white hominy, drained
¾ c tomatillo salsa (often called salsa verde)
2 c shredded cooked chicken breast
1 ½ t cumin
½ c chopped fresh cilantro

Mix broth, hominy and salsa and bring to a boil. Toss chicken with cumin and add to broth and simmer 10 minutes. Place in bowls and garnish with cilantro.

Cuban Sandwich

Add in some ham and this is a pretty authentic sandwich – it’s just on whole wheat slices rather than a roll. But for only 285 calories, I’ll give up a little authenticity – and you don’t have to give up on ANY of the flavor ! You can add some mustard if you like, but I like this one plain.

Cuban Sandwich
Cuban Sandwich

1 serving
285 calories per serving

2 oz. cooked leftover pork, sliced thin (slices from Grilled Pork Roast are great)
2 slices whole wheat lite bread (45 calories per slice)
1 slice light Swiss cheese (70 calories)
2 sandwich stacker pickles, patted dry
Pam
I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter Spray

Make a sandwich of the pork, cheese and pickles. Heat a grill pan or frying pan and spray with Pam. Spray one side of the sandwich with 5-10 spritzes of ICBINB spray and lay the sprayed side down. Grill 3 minutes pressing down on the sandwich lightly. Spray the top of the sandwich with ICBINB and flip then continue cooking 2-3 minutes.

Cappuccino Granita

Think Chocolate Italian ice but with more of a coffee flavor – and that describes this pretty well 🙂 A great dessert for only 70 calories and a perfect ending to a summer night.

Cappuccino Granita
Cappuccino Granita

7 servings
80 calories per serving

½ c sugar
2 T cocoa
3 c strong hot coffee (decaf)
1 c skim milk

Place a 13×9 metal pan in the freezer to chill. Combine all ingredients and cool for ½ hour then pour it into the pan and place in the freezer for 30 – 60 minutes. When ice crystals form on the edges, stir with a fork being sure to pull away all the frozen pieces around the edges and freeze another 2-3 hours stirring every ½ hour.

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